Auto Racing

Young Taylor grew up in racing BY ROGER CLEAVELAND REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN

SALISBURY -- By the time that Jordan Taylor was old enough to appreciate just how impressive a sports car racer his father Wayne was, dad already had five IMSA World Sports Car championships and a South African National Championship in his rear view mirror.

As a young kid, Taylor loved going to the track every weekend and telling his friends that his dad was a race car driver. It wasn't really until Wayne was in the Grand-Am Series winning the 2005 24 Hours of Daytona and the Rolex Sports Car Series season championship, however, that Taylor's interest in racing really began to pique.

"I have really grown up watching this series," Taylor said. "It is also where I have grown up in my own racing career, as well. So it is kind of sad to see it ending."

The Grand-Am Series, which merges next year with the American Le Mans Series to form the United SportsCar Championship, will hold its final race ever Saturday at Lime Rock Park. Taylor, only 22 years old, goes into that historic race leading the Rolex Daytona Prototype class championship point standings with teammate Max Angelelli.

"It has been an unbelievable year," Taylor said. "A lot of people say they have never seen a points race be so close for the final three races. We went into Leguna Seca with five cars within five points which is pretty much unheard of. Even going into the final race at Lime Rock, there are four cars still eligible to win the championship. One little slip-up can be so costly, because it so competitive."

Taylor races for his dad's team, Wayne Taylor Racing, which has won the last three Grand-Am prototype races at Lime Rock. The last three years, Angelelli teamed with Taylor's older brother, Ricky. This year, Ricky is competing with The Spirit of Daytona in the same series.

The brothers have been careful to make a name for themselves in racing so they aren't always viewed as being race car drivers in dad's name only. This is Taylor's first full season with dad's team.

"Ricky and I always said that we didn't want to do what Marco Andretti and Graham Rahal did where they jumped right into their dad's team," Taylor said. "From the outside it just looks like he is giving you an opportunity and you're not really having to make it for yourself. So we kind of did our own things at first, coming up through the ranks of Skip Barber and GT racing to prove ourselves.

"We are Wayne Taylor's sons, but we have earned our place in this sport. We have done well enough to earn seats in good cars."

Ricky won seven poles one season after he started racing for his dad, and now this year Jordan is having a phenomenal season that could earn him last Grand-Am championship.

It hasn't been easy. Like his brother Ricky, Taylor is going to college at University of Central Florida to make sure he creates other career opportunities for himself once his racing days are over.

"I'm in business marketing and Ricky is in engineering," Taylor said. "We can only take a few credits each semester because we are spending so much time on the road at the race track, but we try to take as many classes online as we can. It is just going to take us a while to graduate."

Make no mistake about it, despite not starting go-kart racing until he was 10 or really taking racing seriously until his dad retired as a driver in 2006, Taylor has reached the point in his life where he wants to make racing his career.

"I'm happy where I am right now, because I grew up around this sport with my dad," Taylor said. "I've always been around sports car racing and road courses. It is really what I love. I am not going to go after a career in IndyCar racing or NASCAR. Of course, if an opportunity ever came along I would definitely be interested in trying it, but right now it is important to stay focused on what we are doing."

He believes that with the merge of Grand-Am and American Le Mans, sports car racing will be very competitive and stable well into the future.

"It is going to be a high-class championship," Taylor said. "Right now it is kind of split into two North American champions. People make a lot of decisions looking from Europe with the attitude, 'I like the ALMS schedule better,' or 'Grand-Am guys are better.' I think going forward it will have a lot more credibility when there is one series and one true North American champion."

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